Delhi HC allows media to cover Dec 16 gangrape case trial

The Delhi High Court allowed media to cover the day-to-day proceedings of the trial in the December 16 gang-rape case, which was being heard behind closed doors till date.

Setting aside the order passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, heading the fast track court, on January 22 restraining media from covering the trial, Justice Rajiv Shakdher said, “The (trial) court will allow access to one representative journalist of each of the accredited national dailies.”

Allowing the plea of a group of accredited journalists from the High Court, the judges, “The reporters of other national dailies shall share their stories with the representatives of other newspapers and members of the electronic media.”

The court, however, asked the media not to disclose the name of the victim or any of her family members, saying, “The reporting shall not disclose the names of the victim or those of the members of the family of the victim or the complainant or witnesses cited in the proceedings.”

“The reportage shall exclude the part of the proceedings which the trial court specifically so directs,” according to it.

The High Court also hoped that the media will confine its reporting to the news and will not transgress into areas in the trial court’s domain.

“It is hoped that reportage will confine itself to the news as it is, and not transgress into the areas which are in the domain of the court. There is a thin, but a clean and distinct line dividing the two which if respected will augur well for institutional integrity,” the court observed.

The High Court also set aside the Delhi Police’s January 5 advisory which had said the proceedings in the case cannot be reported as the lower court had already taken cognisance of the charge sheet.

The 23-year-old victim was gang-raped in a moving bus in South Delhi on December 16 last year. She died in a Singapore hospital on December 29.